Beet-picker.



E; A. GADWALLADER.

BERT PICKER. l APPLICATION FILED FEB.3, 1912.

Patented 1190.211912.'

asuma-sum 1.

E. A. UADWALLADBR.

BEET PICKER.

, APPLICATION FILED FEB. 3, 1912.

Patented Dec.24,1912.

3 SHEETS-BHEET 2.

/NVENTOR WHA/5555 34o Y charge spout and a U i y and Fig. isa modification of picker wire.`

=T0 all whom t may concern UNITED STATES OF WICHITA, KANSAS, ASSIGNOR 0F ONE-CBALF TO ELISHA A. CADWALLADER,

SAMUEL L.

GHASTAIN AND PATENT onirica.

ROBERT M. CHASTAIN.

BEET-PICKER.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Dec. ,24, 1912.

l Application filed February 3, 1912. Serial No.` 675,243.

known that I, ELISHA A. Canwnr.-l a citizen' of theiUnited States, re-L si'ding vat Wichita, in the county of Sedgl 'wick and State of Kansas,ha ve invente certain new and useful Improvements inl Beet-Pickers, of which the following is a specification. y My invention relates to an improvement; in beet pickers and the object is to provide for picking the beets from the groundaften 'been loosened from the earthfy Be it tacle whereby they can be conveyed from Ithe field.

The invent-ion consists of a wheeled frame,

carrying a rotary picker which conducts the! vegetables from the ground to a certain ele-l vationwhere they are discharged onto an'I endless conveyer and conveyed by the con-- veyer to a suitable receptacle. A The invention consists of certain novellY features of construction and combination ofi ,parts which will be hereinafter describedl` plan view and pointed out in the claims.

In they accompanying drawingsz-Figure 1 is a'view 'in side elevation; Fig/2 is a 'top'i F.ig. 3' is a vertical sectional view`I through the'picker wheel; Fig. 4 is a per;- spective view of the spreader track and disportion of the conveyer;

A represents the frame of the machine and 1 is the pole or tongue connected to the', frame to which the draft animals are at, tached. Hollow bearings 2 are journaled in; the frame and journaled in the bearings are axles 3 and 4 upon which axles the wheels 5 are mounted and secured. A yoke 6 is connected to the bearings 2 for keeping the bearings in alinement. A shaft 7 is journaled inthe arms 2 connected to the bearingsv 2 and mounted upon the` shaft is the picker wheel B. A sleeve 8 is slidably mounted upon the shaft 7, the sleeve being keyed to the shaft by key 9 and the hubs 10 of the wheel B are mounted upon the sleeve 8 and are held thereto by means of screwf bolts 11 whereby the hubs can be moved Afromv and 'toward each other for regulating the tension of the picker ngers." Picker each finger is a plate-13 which is fastened to the finger by means of bolts 14. Connected to the fingers by the bolts 14 are a lurality of wires 15. A sprocket wheel 17 1s mounted on the axle 3 and a sprocket wheel 18 is mounted on the shaft 7. sprocket wheels 17 and 1S are connected by a sprocket chain 19 and a clutch 20 on the axle 3 is adapted to be thrown into engage- `ment with the sprocket wheel 17 for locking the sprocket wheel to the axle 3 by means of a lever 21 whereby power can be transmittedto the shaft 7 for rotating-the picker wheel B.

end of .i rod 22 is received, the other terminal of the rod 22 being connected to the shaft 23 which is mounted in hangers 24 connected to the frame A.- A collar-25 is mounted on the shaft 23 and connected thereto is a lever4 26 which lever is pivotally connected to the frame A. Upon the movement ofthis lever the shaft 23 will becaused to 'slide through its hangers the sleeve 8 will be shifted or slid along the shaft 7 for causing the rotary picker to be moved, the object of this 'being to bring the picker into position forirregular rows -of beets. Diverging curved rails 27 are supported on the sleeve 8 by a bar 28. bracket 29 is adjustably supported on rails 27 for supporting a trough 30 and a bar '31 is connected to they trough and to the sleeve 8 for securely holding the trough in'position, the bar 31 being loosely Vmounted upon the sleeve 8 to allow for the vertical adjustment of the trough 30 by means of bolts 32 which connect the track 29 to the rails 27.

The rails 27 form a track for spreading the fingers 12 apartfor allowing the discharge of the vegetables 4such as beets from the fingers into the trough 30. As the rotary wheel moves the 4lingers will be caused to be spread apart as they come into engagement with the track spreader and the fingers will, therefore, be held apart as they come toward the ground which enables the vegetables-to be gathered between the fingers as the fingers, after passing the spreader, come toward each other binding the beets between The' An annular groove 22 1s formedm vthe sleeve S in which the forked preferably of spring Vmetal and connected toA 24 whereby the wires of the two sets of fingers on the hubs l0 and l1 and after the wheel has made a'complete revolution and thefingers again come in contact with the spreader the vegetables will be discharged intovthe trough. In this way it will be seen that some of the fingers are constantly picking up the vegetables during the entire rotation of the wheel and at the lsame timethe vegetables are be. ing discharged from other fingers into the trough. An endless conveyer'frame 32 is mounted upon the frame A and mounted onv the frame 32 is a conveyerv belt 33 onto which the veget-ables are discharged from whereby the vegetables will the endless conveyer away from the picker machine to some suitable receptacle. Sprocket wheel 34 is journaled onto the shaft 35 by which the conveyer belt is propelled anda sprocket wheel 36 is mounted on the shaft 37 supported Onthe frame A. A sprocket chain 38 connects .the wheels 36 and 34 whereby motion awill be transmitted to the conveyer belt and beveled pinion 39 is mounted on t-he shaft 37 which meshes with a beveled gear 40 mounted on the axle 4. Aclutch 41 mounted on the axle is adapted to be thrown in to an enga ement with the gear 40 by lever 42 Where y power can be transmitted through the shaft 37 and chain 38 Ato the conveyerbelt for conducting the fruit or vegetables from the machine. Standards 43 are connected4 to the frame upon which is journaled a shaft 44. Arms 45 are connected to the shaft 44 to which are connected links 46. The links 46 engage springs 47 which springsare con? nected to the arms 2. A lever 48 is connected to the shaft 44 whereby upon the movement of the lever 48 the picker wheel can be raised from the ground as it is carried by. the arms 2 so that upon the oscillation of the arms 2 through the 1springs 47 links 46 and arms 45 the wheel .will be raised. A segment 49- is connected to one of the standards 43 so that the lever can be locked in any adjusted position for holdf ing the wheel at any elevation.

The picker wheel is rotated in the same direction as the traction wheels 5, that is of course, after the clutch 2O has been thrownl into engagementwith the sprocket wheel 17 and during the rotation of the picker wheel in picking up the vegetables-to be gathered rollers 50 carried by eachl of the fingers 12 ywill come into engagement with the spreader track causing the fingers to be separated for discharging the vegetables into the trough 30, this beingclearly shown in Fig. 2, and as the fingers pass from the spreader they mllpgme into engagement with the vegetables on the ground causing'the vegetables to be grasped between the adjacent fingers ing rails for spreading and the strands of Wire and thereby carrying the vegetables around with the wheel until the fingers! are again engaged by the spreader rails. 27;. and cause the Vegetables to be released from bet-Ween the fingers.

In the modificationshown in Fig. 5 I have disclosedthe .wire52 as beingbent sinuously. The wire can be constructed of lengths suflicientto extend between.; the fingers l2 or it can .be of suchfa length as to .entirely encircle the Wheel andeach of the fingers.

This is also true of the strands l5 shown in Figs. l. and -Ftf I' Having fully .described my invention, what I claim as newl and desire to secure by LettersPatent is: 1 l. In a picking machine, the combination with aframe, of a picker; wheel rotatably mounted thereon comprising afplurality of fingers, means connecting the .fingers 1together whereby the fruit'will b e gathered by the fingers and the means connecting the gers, and means for removing the vegetables from the picker wheel during its rotation.

2. In.l a picking machine, thecombination with a frame, of a picker wheel rotatably mounted thereoncomprising a plurality` of rows ofpicking fingers, means connecting the fingers of each row together, and means for removing the vegetables from thefingers'.

3. In a picking machine, the'combin'ation with a frame, of a picker wheel rotatably mounted thereon comprising a plurality of rows of picking fingers, means connecting'` the fingers of each row together, and. means for separating the fingers for the removal ofthe vegetables during the rotationof the wheel without interfering with the picking operation.

4. In a picking machine, with a frame, of a shaft mounted `on the frame, a sleeve slidably mounted thereon, rotatable picker fingers removably connected to the sleeve, and means .for shiftin the sleeve for bringing the picker. fingers lntov a position for gathering the fruit. I

5. In a pickingmachine, the combination with a' frame, of a shaft mounted on the frame carrying a movable sleeve, a rotatable picker wheel mounted on the sleeve rovided with fingers, means for shifting the sleeve for bringing the picker fingers into a position for gathering the` fruit, and means for spreading the fingers Aapartfor allowing the discharge of the vegetables from the fingers mounted upon the sleeve and carried thereby. y

6. In a picking machine, the combination with a frame having a shaft mounted thereon, of a picking wheel rotatably mounted on the shaft having picking fingers, divergthe fingers apart the combination t'o the other bar,

for removingr the Vegetables from the fin- Sells Said bars connected to the rails, a trough udjustably supported by the rails connected Suid trough adapted to recove the Vegetables discharged from tho fingers.

bars journnled to the shaft, one ot` Tn testimony whereof affix my signature, 1n the presence ot two wltnesses` ELSHA A. CADVVALLADER.

Wvitnesses z FRANK MOSBACHER, DOROTHY VALLHALL. 

